Ivan : What happened to Delta Breeze..??

Rob : Well, some JACKASS turned it off!!!!

All about 'Thai Hut'

‘Thai Hut’ is the place we had our brunch on our second day in Hong Kong.

It sits right across Mes Amis. It’s actually a very little restaurant – hardly any place to sit, just a couple really small tables and a couple bar tables. It caught Rob’s attention right away and we went to try it on our second day in Hong Kong. It has a little display counter that showcases some pre-made yummies that you can choose from (and they will heat it up before they serve), and also a little kitchen right behind the counter where they do fresh stir-fries. The food there are pretty awesome, the selection is very good too for such a little restaurant. The best part is, it’s opened till LATE. Amazing! The chicken satay is my favorite, together with all sorts of Thai curries – red, green and yellow….. They make good Pad Thai too. Highly recommended! The lunch crowd are made of mostly white collars. The NIGHT crowd however, hmm, are ENTIRELY different. We were looking for food one night after some drinking. It was around 1 am on a weeknight… We were super excited to see Thai Hut still opened for business. Of course, we dived in and made our orders. But one thing we couldn’t avoid noticing – the customers were mostly female street hookers!… And since this restaurant is by a busy street, we can see ARMY of female hookers sashaying around in groups of 2 or 3 throughout the night!

So there, a little story about a little gem in the heart of Wan Chai… Now only you all know what this ‘Thai Hut’ is all about.

Hong Kong taxi - view from Mes Amis, opposite Thai Hut

We stayed in Wanchai, Hong Kong for a week in August.  While there, as usual, we found what became our ‘default’ hangout for relaxing and beers.  It’s a nice little sidewalk bar/restaurant called Mes Amis where they serve you 2 for 1 Heinekens during happy hours.  I don’t need a better excuse for Heineken than that!

Over the course of the week we sat by the sidewalk drinking beers there many times.  And during those times, I noticed that the street right in front of where we sat is a very common place for people to catch a taxi.  Day in and day out, time and time again, folks were able to waive down a taxi in mere minutes from this location, until ‘they’ came along — a man and a woman, apparently tourists.  What caught my attention first was that she was dressed in a full burka — not something that is very commonly seen in Hong Kong.  What I noticed next is that the husband really didn’t “look” middle-eastern or Muslim.  Dressed in shorts, sandals and a short-sleeve shirt, and with relatively light skin, he could’ve passed for a tourist from just about any western country.

So they approached the corner and proceeded to try to flag down a taxi.  One after another the CLEARLY EMPTY (they have a “for hire” sign that is illuminated when they have no one inside) taxis passed them by without even slowing.  It seemed like they must’ve tried for a good 10 minutes — during which time they were passed by at least a dozen times by empty taxis — until finally the wife walked away.  She stood about 10 yards away from the husband on the sidewalk while he stayed on the edge of the road and continued looking for a taxi.  Sure enough, the very next one stopped.  There was a little bit of conversation between the man and the taxi driver (probably “where are you going?” etc.) and then it became clear that the driver would be able to take him to his destination.  The back door popped open (they have automatic door openers for the back door in Hong Kong taxis — pretty cool!) and the man signaled for his wife to come join him.  It took the taxi driver a second to catch on, but once he noticed the burka-clad wife, he had some additional, louder, words for the man and sped away!

I couldn’t believe what I’d just seen!!  The man and his wife apparently decided to walk or take a bus or something, because they left the area on foot after that.  I found this quite interesting from a sociological standpoint, but also kind of sad.  I mean, by all accounts the guy really did look like just any other ordinary dude.  And his wife, under the burka, was probably just as “normal.”  I have my own opinions about the burka itself, but I don’t pretend to have any right to impose my thoughts or beliefs on those who feel otherwise.  I imagine the taxi drivers must’ve been scared of the Muslims, which is very sad, but also somewhat understandable.  Any intellectually honest person knows that there is not a bomb strapped to everyone who wears a burka, right?  But the same intellectually honest person knows that it’s at least possible because we know it has happened many times in the past.  Furthermore, the same intellectually honest person would have to agree that if I stood on the street wearing a ski mask — or anything else that completely hid my face – it’s unlikely that any taxi would stop for me either.

So, apparently, that’s how to NOT get a taxi in Hong Kong.  Now only you know.

I read a news headline this morning:  “Witness: BP took ‘shortcuts’ before well blowout.” The article goes on to say, “Senior managers complained oil giant BP was “taking shortcuts” by replacing heavy drilling fluid with saltwater in the well that blew out, triggering the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico….”  I also saw a segment on 60 minutes a week or two ago that went into much more detail about that very subject.  These revelations have me hoping that the folks at BP who are responsible for those ill-fated decisions will be held CRIMINALLY responsible and that BP will face fines the likes of which will make the EU judgment against Intel look like play money.

Fucking ridiculous!

I, for one, have mostly been in favor of drilling for oil wherever we can find it. Why the hell should we buy it from other countries (financing terrorism while we’re at it, in some cases) when we can use our own?  And, we’re Americans—of course we’d do it in a safe and cautious manner, right? Or so I thought.  That’s another part of this that has me really pissed off right now: I KNOW we’re capable of doing this safely.  We can do ANYTHING if we devote our minds and resources to it.  They chose, however, to prioritize profits over doing the right thing.  This not only makes BP look bad.  It also makes the American government look bad (as it should, based on some of the things I’ve read).  AND, it makes ME, as an American, look bad.  Seriously, we can put guys on the moon in 1969, build an atomic weapon in a matter of months in the 40s, and countless other amazing achievements.  But we can’t drill for oil without DESTROYING the ENTIRE GULF OF FUCKING MEXICO!????????

I had to personalize this a bit in order to even come close to feeling the appropriate level of anger.  I had to imagine something that hits closer to home.  What if they’d done this in the San Francisco bay and I had to see (and smell) the mess every time I crossed the bay bridge.  It would devastate the region in many different ways (ecologically, tourism, etc.) for years and years and I’d be LIVID!  Or what if they’d destroyed the American River that’s been a part of my life since I was barely old enough to be out of diapers?  I’d probably personally start shooting BP executives in that scenario!  Or I could imagine if they’d done it off the shores of Penang Island.  The region would be poisoned for years to come.  The livelihood of the thousands of people who rely on those waters to make their living would be destroyed.  The hundreds of thousands (or more) of people like me who go visit Penang each year would be sad to see the destruction of such a treasured place.  Many would not go back, thus depriving thousands more Penangites of their tourism-dependant livelihood.  The people who live there would no doubt be personally devastated by it, the way I would be devastated by the destruction of the American River.

I could go on and on about any of these imaginary scenarios, but the point is that in the Gulf of Mexico it’s not imaginary.  They actually fucking did it!  All of the effects I’ve described in my imaginary scenarios—and more—are taking place at this very moment.  They knew they were taking risks with something that wasn’t theirs to risk, and they did it anyway.  What the hell is wrong with these people?  And what the hell is wrong with US if we let them get away with it?  A HUGE region of our country is going to be affected!  And I haven’t even touched on the people who were actually burned alive in the explosion.  We all know it’ll probably never really happen, but I truly, truly hope the Obama administration treats this like what it is, a crime.

Here’s a picture that Ivan took when we visited Bangkok in June, 2009:

And here’s the same spot after the protesters got done vandalizing the city (taken from this video posted May 19, 2010):

Very sad.   We liked that cool mall and the very cool little Zen shop!

Mom enjoying her pedi-session...

“A man’s work is from sun to sun, but a mother’s work is never done.”
Happy Mother’s Day! ♥

Moo Moo the Superstar

Just a little little goofy post… Finally got the chance to ‘unpack’ the little Lego package I bought in HKIA, right before I boarded the flight. What to do, I’m a Lego fanatic, can’t help it… Bought one for Rob too, he’s a ‘Chef’ with a ‘chicken drumstick’!..

A tree by the red red wall

Bloom!

This is sort of a little continuation from the ‘Little Little Flowers‘ post about a week ago…

It’s a beautiful coincidence — I bumped into this SIMILAR kind of tree/flowers in Beijing. It’s not like they’re common in China, in fact they are rather rare…. I only saw one in Qingdao and now another ONE in Beijing… I wonder what kind of tree/flower they really are…

This particular one in Beijing has way MORE flowers than the previous one…. and unlike the first one, the flowers are all fully bloomed. It was amazingly beautiful… though I was in a hurry to go somewhere (for work stuff), I still couldn’t help it but stop for couple minutes to savor the view, the beauty, the serenity…. It does somehow give me some sort of peace of mind amid my crazy work schedule.

So I’m in the Phoenix airport yesterday, waiting for a flight back home to

And here they are... The mean man and his wife.

Sacramento.  I was sitting in a bar/restaurant just checking email and things, when behind me I hear the following conversation taking place:

Man:  Did you ever think you’d be a disgrace?

Woman:  No. 

Man:  Well, y’are!!  And if ya weren’t married to me, what would ya be then?  Nothin’.

Woman:  [Indistinguishable noise.]

Man:  I tell ya, I’m really gettin’ tired…… Really tired, I tell ya… I’m almost 73 years old.  Boy am I tired of this shit!  Y’know I oughta leave ya.  Just get in the truck and drive off to Florida!

Woman:  Oh, that truck… [something I can’t make out]  (probably something like it’s doesn’t run right or something.)

Man:  It will when I get back and fix it!!  I’m not leavin’ that thing for you!  It’s already been tagged by the police because of you!  It’s had to be towed back twice because of you!

And blah blah blah… he kept going on and on about shit like this… totally in a normal tone of voice, no yelling, no anger, just “tellin it like it is.”  I’m thinking she must put up with this shit a lot!  But seriously, the craziest part is how the discussion was just so nonchalant!  He was saying these things to her (and she was responding) the way you would expect people to discuss their plans for dinner or an upcoming vacation or something.

It continued:

Man:  I don’t need a millstone around my neck… but I got YOU!  You’re the closest thing I got to a millstone around my neck!  Y’know, there’s a lotta places I’m goin… Next month I’m goin’ down to Miami…

She's wondering, "why is that weird guy who was by us at the bar taking pictures of us??"

Woman:  [says something I can’t quite make out.]

Man:  No, you’re not goin!  I’m takin’ the truck!

Jesus Christ!  If I ever get so old and grumpy–which some people who know me might not think is that big of a stretch of the imagination–to where I’m berating the person closest to me (the lady was obviously his wife) then just shoot me and put me out of both our misery!  That lady should totally kick him in the nuts!

Unknown flowers/tree by the roadside

Since this month’s theme is all about Spring, let me kick start this flowery season with a little post.

I noticed that Spring came a bit late this year… and this observation is confirmed by some of the engineers I worked with at Hisense, taxi drivers and hotel staff. Everywhere I see, it still looks kinda like winter. The weather is all wacky too.

Well, I bumped into this little tree in Qingdao on my way back from work and it caught my attention immediately — there are flowers coming out from the tip of the branches on this otherwise dry-looking tree. Beautiful!… So white and pure. I have no idea what tree or flower it is, but it does somehow remind me of a similar kind of tree I’d seen in Sacramento.